10.07.2009

Word Wednesday .::63

Word Wednesday is posted every Wednesday. Each week I post a scripture that I've read that week that has spoken to me in a fresh way. I believe that if we read God's Word every day, He will give us at least one scripture every week that will impact us. Sharing Scripture with each other is like iron sharpening iron. Leave a comment and share a scripture that has impacted you this week.

Here's the scripture that stuck this week:

Leviticus 16:29-34 The Message

29-31 "This is standard practice for you, a perpetual ordinance. On the tenth day of the seventh month, both the citizen and the foreigner living with you are to enter into a solemn fast and refrain from all work, because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. In the presence of God you will be made clean of all your sins. It is a Sabbath of all Sabbaths. You must fast. It is a perpetual ordinance.

32 "The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father is to make the atonement:He puts on the sacred linen garments;

33 He purges the Holy of Holies by making atonement;He purges the Tent of Meeting and the Altar by making atonement; He makes atonement for the priests and all the congregation.

34 "This is a perpetual ordinance for you: Once a year atonement is to be made for all the sins of the People of Israel." And Aaron did it, just as God commanded Moses.

The words "perpetual ordinance" really popped out at me when I read this. Perpetual means continuing or enduring forever. This ordinance wasn't just a one time thing, it was a commitment. In the New Testament, we're called a "royal priesthood." As people who have claimed the name of Christ, we have to view it as a commitment. We have to live our life to bring glory to God in a perpetual way. Christianity is not an event, it's our everything.What's your Word?

4 comments:

Very good. That is true, the moment of initial Salvation is not the end of our Christian Journey, but the beginning of that Perpetual Ordinance.

As for me, I read Esther this morning and Chapter 4:12-17 is a very striking part of that book.

"12 And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. 13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" 15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, 16 "Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish." 17 Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him." [ESV]

Mordecai's total faith and trust in the Providence of God is striking, saying that if Esther chose not to do as he said that they would still be delivered, just that she would have failed to have a part in it. Then reminding her that her entire life may have been leading up to this ("And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?") And her response ending with "if I perish, I perish." Totally resolved to do the right thing regardless of the potential cost to her personally.